I can think of two times in my athletic career where I have suffered from overtraining.

The first was years ago when I didn’t understand the principles of training in the least. I pounded hard just about every time I went out the door and before long, I had legs that wouldn’t respond. It took an extended period of lower key workouts to bring the muscles back around.

Start before the run

This serves two purposes. One is that it helps get the muscles primed for action so that you can get the most out of your hard work. The second is that with warmed up muscles, you are going to minimize the amount of damage you inflict.

A good dynamic warm up doesn’t have to be time consuming.

Five to 10 minutes can raise your heart rate and get blood flowing to your muscles. Then you can take set off.

Pay attention to the type of run

Different runs will require different approaches to recovery, so plan in advance.

Racing—provided you are really going for it—is going to have the biggest impact on your body. Start the recovery off right with a couple of miles cool down run immediately after the run. This will help “flush out” some of the junk you’ve just accumulated. Also, incorporate more days of recovery into your plan the longer your race.

—Track work, in particular, deserves some easy recovery time after. As a younger runner, an easy day following speedwork was usually sufficient. As a masters runner, you might want to pad that with a second day of easy running if you feel particularly beat up. Tempo runs or hill repeats take less of a toll, but always set yourself up for a recovery day after.

In order to make any gains with stretching, you would have to stretch each muscle for three to five minutes, four to six days per week, for 12 weeks.

Not very practical, is it?

So instead of spending useless time with static stretching post run, consider tissue mobilization techniques like those spelled out in Dicharry’s book, which can lead to improvements in three to five minutes per day in about two to three weeks.

This mobilization can be a powerful way to help your body ready itself for the next run.